The New Era
by KiKira33
Summary: Twenty years and a summer after the battle of Hogwarts. The world is at peace and has stayed that way save Albus Potter's little time turner stunt last year. Phoenix is a struggling witch trying to balance her life of working at the Ministry and her new job as a professor at Hogwarts. Dark threats loom again and romance is found in the most unlikely places. R&R
1. Prolog

**Disclaimer: I do not nor will I ever own the rights to Harry Potter or any supporting material in the franchise.**

 **Enjoy!**

* * *

Phoenix walked through town on the way to her apartment after finally finishing the last brutally long shift at the campground that is her summer job. ' _One more raid then a few days off before my other second job starts'_ she thought as she entered her tiny one room house.

It was a decent space with limited furnishings. A neatly made bed in one corner and the bathroom that was surrounded by homemade shoji panels in another. There was a kitchen with a little stove and fireplace along with a couch and work area filling out the rest of the space. The whole room was neat, clean and adorably decorated.

Phoenix dropped her keys and bag on the little table by the door and made her way over to the refrigerator. Pulling out a chicken breast and some broccoli she made herself a lovely stir fry; grabbing some folders and the food, she walked over to her bed and spread everything out. As of Monday next week she would officially become the professor of potions at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

As the hours ticked by she planned her lessons out until Christmas. Seven years, four houses, an unknown number of students. Her head starts to swim, _'I'm not cut out to be a teacher'_ she thinks sighing in defeat. She puts her papers and folders on the make shift nightstand she had created out of some pieces of wood she found. Turning out the lights she fell into a light sleep knowing how early she would have to wake up the following morning.

* * *

 **I had this idea after reading "The Cursed Child" and decided to write it down. Nothing like this has been written yet that I can find so I hope its a bit of a unique take on the series. If you enjoyed this introduction/prolog please comment. I'd like to hear what you think. Constructive criticism is always welcome but please be kind about it. This is my first fic that I see going anywhere.**

 **Cheers!**

 **-Kikira**


	2. Chapter 1-Nostalgia and New Friends

**Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter**

 **Enjoy!**

* * *

Boarding the train that Monday morning was beyond nostalgic. It had been fifteen years since Phoenix had road the Hogwarts express. This time she sat in the teachers compartment with the other staff that rode the train to school. This year there was only one other professor.

"Hello," She said taking a seat next to Neville Longbottom.

"Hi Phoenix, I haven't seen you since the battle of Hogwarts. Weird seeing you all grown up. How are you?" He asked mildly surprised to see her.

"I'm well, teaching potions this year. How are you?" She asked barely remembering who he was.

"I've been quite well. I teach Herbology. Hope to be seeing you around."

The rest of the ride was spent in silence with Phoenix watching the countryside go by and Neville reading the newest book on plants. As the sun was setting the train started slowing down. Phoenix couldn't help the excitement that bubbled inside her as the castle came into view. Memories of the station and first year flashed before her eyes as she exited the train. She was lucky to be in the last first year class Dumbledore welcomed into those halls. Thinking about him nearly brought tears to her eyes. Walking up to the carriages she fed the threstrals a treat before climbing in and getting settled for the ride to school.

The great hall was just as she remembered, above her the evening stars seemed to twinkle as if welcoming her home. Candles floated above the four house tables as she walked to the teachers table at the back of the room. She sat down at her seat and watched all the returning students fill up the four tables. As soon as they were settled the first year students were brought in and sorted into their respective houses. Headmistress McGonagall stood and gave the opening announcements:

"Welcome to a new year of learning students. I would like to firmly remind each of you that the forest is strictly forbidden. There has been strange activity in there recently and anyone caught within its boarders will not be allowed outside the building for the remainder of the year. I would also like to introduce your new Potions professor and head of Slytherin house, Phoenix Cavannah." she said gesturing to Phoenix. "With that said I hope you have a productive school year. Study hard."

Food appeared and everyone hungrily dove in; for the first 10 minutes there was almost no chatter in the Great Hall. As Phoenix ate thoughts whipped though her mind like lightening. _'Head of Slytherin house? I never singed up for that! What if I have to leave? Who's going to fill in? I'm barely capable of teaching let alone being head of an entire house!'_ All of these thoughts had her spiraling towards a panic attack. Taking a few breathes to calm herself she made eye contact with McGonagall and a short note was sent over.

"Meet me in my office after the feast," it read.

After making sure the prefects had control of getting the children to the common room Phoenix made her way to the headmaster's office. As she walked down the corridors portraits said hello and remarked about how pleased they were to see her. Making it to the gargoyle she said the password and it jumped out of her way. She climbed the spiral stair case and entered McGonagall's office.

"Hello professor," she said taking a seat in one of the chairs. "Please explain to me what's going on, why am I head of Slytherin house?"

"Please dear, call me Minerva, you're not a student anymore after all," she said before launching into her spiel. "We got stuck in a bit of a spot after the departure of the last professor and head of house. Since you were coming on as his replacement we decided that it would be best if you were in charge of both. I understand your obligations to the Ministry and have informed Harry of your unique situation. He has responded with a proposal for you to have an assistant/substitute so he doesn't have to give up his best auror. I agree, which is why you will have the opportunity to choose one of the candidates I have selected in the morning. Your first class will be Thursday morning; we felt it necessary to allow time for you to adjust and plan with your assistant. Harry will also be in close contact. As for your duties as head of house it is rather simple. You make sure your students are where they're suppose to be, provide counsel when they need it and discipline them when they break the rules."

As she spoke Phoenix took in all this information and began processing it. When Professor McGonagall finished talking Phoenix sat there for what felt like a while before saying anything.

"Wow, that's a lot to take in Minerva. I will do my best to live up the expectations set by the previous head of house."

She then left with Minerva giving her back a concerned look. Phoenix made her way down to the dungeons and started unpacking her trunk. It was a decent office with a door on one side that led into her sleeping chambers. A desk sat near the back of the room with a comfortable looking chair and a large green rug lay on the floor; other than that the space was empty. After taking a look around Phoenix began pulling things out of her trunk. She set a lamp next to the desk and a few plants that could survive without sunlight along a wall. Pictures of her family were set on her desk and she pulled in two chairs that were delivered by a couple lovely house elves. She set the chairs in front of the desk and set up book shelves along another wall. Slowly she set up all her reading material in alphabetical order by author and title.

Finishing what she could in the office for the time being, she moved into the bedroom and started hanging her robes in the closet. She put all her dress robes in first followed by her black everyday robes. She set her shoes on the floor and carefully folded her scarves and other small items and set them on the shelves. After putting a few more decorations in place in her room and setting the rest of her important papers on her desk she climbed into bed.

* * *

Phoenix woke up early and went into the washroom to get prepared for the day. She took a shower and got dressed in her robes. After tying her Slytherin tie around her neck she went to the mirror to do her hair and makeup. She was pretty, that was undeniable, with big brown eyes and dark auburn hair that reached down to her waist. She was quite short standing at only 5'2 and had a fair complexion. She braided the top half of her hair in two braids on each side that joined in the back and added a bit of makeup to make her eyes pop.

Walking into her office she was surprised to she professor McGonagall and five young witches and wizards waiting for her.

"Well you all must be very eager to get this over with. It's only 8:00am after all," she said, an amused smile adorning her face.

"These are the five options for you to choose from for your assistant. I have headmistress business to attend to so I will leave you to pick the one that suits you," Minerva said before she departed.

Phoenix walked across the room, sat down at her desk and faced her possible assistants sizing each one up.

"Well? Impress me," she declared and each person took a seat one at a time and competed to be her assistant.

She put each of the through multiple tests starting with a verbal discussion of what they knew followed by a display of their ability to handle stress and decision making and finally a test consisting of each candidate receiving a potion on a slip of paper that they had to flawlessly complete in one hour. When they had finally finished each activity she took a moment to carefully consider each candidate and called them in for her final decision.

"All of you performed flawlessly, Minerva was not messing about when she said you lot were the best of the best. However I require someone I will be able to work well with, for these reasons I have decided that Carina will be my assistant. Congratulation my dear. The rest of you may go back up to the headmaster's office," she announced.

Once the rest of the candidates left Phoenix brought Carina over to her desk and showed her all her lesson plans.

"I will make copies of all my materials for you to look over and be able to teach. I have seven stacks- one for each year- of lessons that are prepared through Christmas. I would appreciate your help planning out the remainder of the year. I will also contact the necessary people to acquire a desk for you which you may put anywhere in this room as long as you don't move anything already set up. Please look over the materials and later we will discuss your roll in helping me balance my two jobs," she said hoping she had included all necessary information into her little speech. For a thirty-two year old women she really had a hard time getting her life together sometimes.

"Thank you Miz Cavannaw! I will look over zees immediately," Carina said with vigor clearly excited about her new job.

"Please, call me Nix, we are friends now and my friends call me Nix," Phoenix said with a warm smile as she turned to leave for the classroom she would be teaching in. As she walked down the long corridor she complimented herself of making a wise choice in her assistant.

Carina was a sweet girl in her mid twenties with pretty blonde hair and sparkling blue eyes. She was tall and beautiful and Phoenix suspected she may be part Veela. She had come to England from France upon graduating from Beauxbatons and was further studying to become a teacher at Hogwarts. Phoenix thought she would be a perfect replacement in a year or two when she had the money to feel comfortable again.

Entering the room she went over to the closet containing the herbs and other ingredients needed for potion making. As it appeared the staff had saw to it that everything her students could possibly need was readably available for them. Satisfied with this, she decided that a walk around the grounds followed by lunch was appropriate. After she had finished her lunch she went back to her office to check on Carina's progress.

"How is the reviewing coming?" she asked as she entered the room.

"Oh, very well! I ave almost completed looking zrough all zee materials you left," Carina said looking up from the parchment she was scanning.

"Wonderful! Let's talk about your responsibilities for when I'm away, then I'll start showing you how I plan for lessons. After that we shall go to dinner." Phoenix said brightly.

They quickly went through all the necessary things for classes when Phoenix was gone on raids and started planning for the second semester. With so many classes each learning something different it took the remaining two days for them to prepare the needed materials for their first classes on Thursday. Both girls were so tired Wednesday night that they fell asleep quickly anticipating their first class the following morning.

* * *

 **I hope you enjoyed reading this chapter! Please leave comments telling me what you think. Was it too long? Too short?**

 **This was delivered so soon because I already had it written when I posted the Prolog. I spent the last few days revising this and I hope I've got it good enough for you guys.**

 **Unless otherwise stated there should be updates every Monday.**

 **Cheers!**

 **-Kikira**


	3. Chapter 2-This Will Make or Break You

**As always I do not own Harry Potter.**

 **Also a huge thanks to Kitenpride for being the first to review. I tried to make this one a bit longer for you :)**

 **Enjoy!**

* * *

"Good morning fifth years, my name is Professor Cavannah. First I will ask each of you for your names, after that we will get into our lesson and talk about the O.W.L.s." Phoenix announced to her first class that Monday. As the children gave their names one by one she noticed two empty seats in the rear of the room on the Slytherin side.

When the students got around to that area she asked, "What are the names of the children that belong in those seats?"

A Gryffindor girl, who had identified herself as Rose Granger-Weasley, shot her hand into the air, "They are my cousin Albus Potter and his best friend Scorpius Malfoy."

"Thank you, Rose" she said, suddenly realizing she had already met her two missing students.

"Alright I will talk to them later. For now lets move on to the lesson"

The rest of the day continued with two more classes before it was finally over. After not seeing the boys all day Phoenix became concerned that she would have to write Harry about his son being missing.

Phoenix had planned a fun class for the following morning, each of the students would be brewing a potion of their choice. The rules were simple, brew the most difficult potion that you think you can successful pull off. She was fishing to see the average skill level of her students. Phoenix was pleased to see that Albus and Scorpius bothered to show up for class that day. Wondering if Harry's son would exceed his fathers minimal skill in the art, she gave the assignment and watched them work, assessing their technique.

When time was up she gave the homework assignment and dismissed the class. She collected the potions and was disappointed to see that Albus's was no more than a poorly made antidote to common poisons. There was no way he was that awful at potions she decided. Maybe he was having an off day and needed another chance. She was mildly surprised to find Scorpius had brewed a beautiful draught of living death, maybe he would become prince of potions like his father.

* * *

Over the next few weeks she planned, taught, graded and stressed more than a person should. Who knew teaching would be so hard? As she graded her fifth year classes homework she was taken by surprise at how well done Scorpius's work was. She had expected him to have the one good day then transform into an incredibly smart but also incredibly lazy sod like his father. The fact that he was not making others do his homework for him was a pleasant thought for her. His work actually showed slight boredom, as if what she was asking of him was below his skill level.

The next day she asked him to stay after class, wanting to find out if her assumptions where true.

Once the other kids were gone she turned to him, "Are you bored with my assignments Mr. Malfoy?"

The way he squirmed under her gaze was enough to make her give away an amused smile. Good thing he didn't see it.

"No…No Professor! Of course not" he protested.

"Relax and please don't lie. I can see it in your work; it's exceptional but reads bored."

"Am I in trouble?" He asked quietly.

"Dear Merlin no. If you'd like I can give you more challenging assignments. Rose is already receiving more complicated homework. It wouldn't be a problem to give it to you to."

"Really Professor? I'd love that!" he exclaimed.

"Forget the assignment from class and work on this. Same due date," She said giving him a piece of parchment with the instructions for the assignment.

"Thank you" He said hurrying out of the classroom.

* * *

With Halloween fast approaching and many papers to grade Phoenix was not impressed to receive a letter from McGonagall on October first. She was in the middle of a stack of poorly written essays from the first years when an owl swooped in and scared her half to death making her spill ink all over the paper she was grading. "Bullocks," she growled grabbing her wand and cleaning up the mess.

The letter read:

 _Dear miss Cavannah,_

 _This letter has been sent to inform you of the Halloween Ball that will occur on the 31st of October. I ask you to please inform your house of this news. The parents of all students will be here to celebrate with us and I am hoping to forge deeper bonds between families. On the following page is a list of items the students will need to get for the ball. I have arranged a trip to Hogsmeade this weekend for the children to shop. Because the first and second years are not permitted to go to Hogsmeade on their own the teachers, staff and any prefect volunteers will escort them. Also one last thing, If you could assist me in teaching the students how to dance after classes on Thursday that would be most helpful._

 _Sincerely,_

 _Headmistress Minerva McGonagall_

She finished reading the letter and went to make copies of the second page for each student in her house when Carina stubbled through the door starling her for the second time that morning causing her to bump her head on the desk which she was kneeling under.

"I am zo zorry Nix, I did not mean to be late. Yesterday was zo exhausting and I overslept," She said in a bit of a frenzy and quite worried for her friend who looked a little nauseous.

"Don't worry Carina, it happens to the best of us," Phoenix sighed, rubbing the fast growing bump on her head.

"McGonagall owled us this; I need you to post an announcement on the bulletin board in the common room that there will be a meeting tomorrow morning. Also could you please take a stack of these essays? I feel like my head is going to require some ice and I could really use a shower," Phoenix said.

"Zure," Carina said gently. She couldn't believe how much stress her friend always put herself under.

After handing all the essays to Carina, Phoenix got dressed in a casual pair of jeans and an old Guns-n-Roses t-shirt, grabbed her beloved firebolt and ran down to the quidditch pitch. She was glad none of the teams were practicing this morning, she needed the peace and quiet. She mounted her broom and flew into the air, racing toward the the goal hoops she threw the quaffle she borrowed from the shed as hard as she could. It went through the middle hoop and she caught it on the other side. she repeated the process multiple times with the different hoops until she had scored at least three times in each.

She used to be the best chaser on Slytherin team when she was in school; she was also proud to say she was the first girl to be allowed in the team in a century. Sometimes she wondered why she chose to become an Auror instead of play for one of the national quidditch teams. She flew around the pitch, the wind whipping her hair behind her, thinking about events that led up to the career choice she made.

 _"Take this you bloody hag! Sectumsempra!" Phoenix screamed as she launched herself off the astronomy tower to avoid Alecto Carrows killing curse. They were in the heat of the battle of Hogwarts and Phoenix had defied McGonagall and her Uncles orders for any student under year six to leave. She'd been running as fast as her legs could carry her away from the Carrow siblings all the way up the spiral staircase and across the top of the tower. Her heart sunk as she realized there was no way she'd live through this. Deciding she was too stubborn to die at the hands of a death eater she turned, cast the worst spell she knew and pitched herself off the astronomy tower. Just as she thought she was going to hit the ground someone grabbed her out of the air and onto their broom. As it happened Ginny Weasley had seen it all happened and had rushed to save her. Phoenix would forever be in her debt for that._

She snapped out of her memories when she heard a noise coming from the forest. Looking over she saw what she thought was the shadow of a person but it disappeared as quickly as it had appeared and she couldn't be sure. She flew back down to the pitch and put away the quaffle she had borrowed, grabbed her broom and walking toward the spot she thought she saw something.

She studied the area closely looking for any signs someone had been there. Finding nothing on the ground or at eye level she examined the trees and immediately noticed how sick the closest one looked. She walked deeper into the forest looking for anymore signs of sickness and disease in any of the foliage, needing to know if this was isolated or widespread. The forest had become much darker than it had been when she was in school and she was appalled to discover the farther she ventured in the worse whatever this sickness was.

Cursing to herself about not knowing much about plants she started making her way back to the castle hoping Neville might be helpful. She didn't notice the shadowy figure that watched her just out of her line of sight concealing themselves from her expertly honed senses.

Monday came and the students gathered in the common room awaiting their head of house to make the announcement they had been hearing about all weekend. Phoenix walked in and used the amplifying charm to make her voice louder.

"Attention students! This year there will be a Halloween Ball for you and your parents. Everyone is expected to attend and as such McGonagall has comprised a list of all the things you will need to purchase if you don't already have them in you possession. This coming weekend will be your only opportunity to go to Hogsmeade before the ball so I suggest you take advantage of it. For anyone under third year you will be escorted by either a teacher or a prefect. If you are a prefect and would like to assist please write your name on the list that will be attached to the board. There will also be dance lessons this coming Thursday after classes. If you do not know how to dance I expect to see you there; if you do I expect you to be kind to your fellow house mates that don't," she said eyeing them dangerously.

She wasn't going to take any chances with having to deal with in house bullying while she was head of Slytherin.

"Are there any questions? No? Alright you are dismissed to your classes."

The week dragged on for Phoenix. Her and Carina taught their classes, graded papers, taught kids how to dance, and assisted with the Hogsmeade trip.

By monday she was becoming increasingly concerned about Albus and his lack of enthusiasm for her class. Missing homework assignments, not showing up for class on time and lazy work were becoming highlights of the boys time in her class.

"Mr. Potter," Phoenix said sternly as he was trying to not be seen leaving with the majority of the class.

"Bloody hell," he said turning to scowl at her. Not impressed at all with the way he was treating her, she commanded him to sit and when he refused she used a spell to make him.

"All I want from you is a reason for your lack of respect for my class and for your lazy homework. I will also need the assignments you skipped if you feel like taking your O.W.L.s at all."

"I hate the way you teach, your homework assignments suck and no I will not turn the assignments in and if you bare me from my O.W.L.s I'll tell McGonagall," He said cooly and stormed out of the room.

Phoenix was left speechless by her students behavior. This was Harry's kid for Merlins sake, she'd been friends with the Potters since she became an auror. There was no reason she could come up with for Albus to suddenly hate her. That night she decided to work in the class room instead of her office because she didn't want to be bothered by Carina. She needed a spot away from everything to think and to decide whether or not to get Harry involved. As she sat there grading papers there was a knock on the door.

"Come in," she said; to her surprise Scorpius Malfoy entered the room and sat down at a desk across from her.

"You're a girl right?" he asked paying very close attention to the wood on the desk. When he looked up and saw the confused and shocked face of his professor he quickly continued speaking. "I wouldn't normally talk to a professor about this but I don't have any friends that are female and Albus is really not helpful right now. He's dealing with…stuff," Scorpius said, he was back to his previous task of carving something into the desk with his fingernail.

"Sure, what's up?" She asked kindly, after all this was part of being in charge no matter what her personal issues were.

"I want to ask a Gryffindor to the ball, I've liked her for years but all she sees me as is the best friend of her cousin. How do I make it out of the hate zone and into, at the very least, being friends?" he asked.

"Are we talking about Rose here?" Phoenix asked Slyly. "My advice would be keep trying to just be her friend. Houses don't matter after you leave Hogwarts, you'd be surprised how many former Gryffindors and Slytherins are friends out in the real world. Maybe I could mention that in class one day soon. it might make her a little less icy toward you."

Scorpius stared at the desk for a moment before responding, "Are you friends with any Gryffindors now? or anyone from different houses?"

"Yes, I am. The Potters and I get along quite well and I dare say Neville and I are friends. Things get better if you let them Scorpius," She said.

"Thanks Professor" he said giving her a smile. "Oh, here's the homework assignments that you gave me today. No use in me holding onto them when you're right here."

With that he left and Phoenix was alone with her thoughts again. She picked up the homework he had given her and started looking it over. As she read his essay on advanced potions an idea popped into her head. She gathered her things and raced back to her office.

"Carina!" she yelled as she barreled into the room. "I have a brilliant idea. Grab some parchment and write this down for me please."

There was a frenzy of paper as Carina rushed to find a quill and some ink. Their office was overrun with essays, books, spare pieces of parchment and other random things. Neither girl was particularly good at keeping things tidy. Carina found what she needed and cleared her desk awaiting Phoenix's idea.

"Im thinking an advanced beyond N.E.W.T.s level class and an advanced beyond O.W.L.s class for next year. We pick two or three students from each year except seventh and form these classes for the particularly bright at potions. For the first class I want Rose Granger-Weasley and Scorpius Malfoy from fifth year. From sixth year I want Philip Creavey, Amanda Flint, and Reese Longbottom. Since you do most of the work with first through fourth years you pick who you want. What do you think?" She asked her eyes sparkling. She didn't know why she was so excited about this, there was just a feeling that great things would come from these classes.

"I zink itz a great idea Nix. We can work on the detailz and launch it next year; first i'll work on picking students I think are most likely up to the task," Carina said, she was quite excited for this too, it would give her more of an opportunity to refine her teaching skills before she took over entirely.

* * *

 **I'm sorry this chapter took so long. I honestly had no idea how to write it and building blocks bore me. Kind of like how everyone thinks the first movie in a series is total crap and boring. This is like that, the good stuff comes lately. So you all should know that this is the fourth draft of this chapter and I still think it's trash. I promise you are going to like chapter three, our favorite asshole finally makes his appearance.**

 **I'm also going to randomly share stories I'm currently reading that are absolutely fabulous:**

 **Title: Hogwarts Needs Wifi**

 **Author: Nahannah**

 **Please follow, favorite and review.**

 **Cheers!**

 **-Kikira**


End file.
